Spore - Production

Spore is a multi-genre PC game by EA and Maxis released in 2008. Spore was known for popularizing procedural generation, a technology that allowed for simple creation of levels and settings. It also allowed the player to make their own creatures that interact with their world and the worlds of other players by uploading them to the world-wide game server.

The game had a reputation when it came to release dates. It was revealed at GDC 2005. After 3 consecutive years at E3 that predicted the release date in their respective years, it was finally released a few months after E3 2008. On September 1, 2008, Australian stores released the game to the public, several days before the US release on September the 5th.

Spore starts out a lot like Pac-man or snake, where the player eats their way to the top. The decisions made in this stage affect the rest of the game, and the same goes for the other phases of the game. The player will get different abilities and choices later in the game based on their diet for this part of the game. If they are herbivorous, they will become more peaceful. If they were carnivorous, they will become more aggressive.

The second phase of the game is similar to a 3rd person adventure game, with different abilities and encounters, and occasionally special missions. The player must gather enough experience throughout their travels to advance to the tribal stage.

The tribal stage functions like an RTS, with the player commanding multiple creatures and conquering other tribes. After this, the game progresses to the civilization stage, where the goal is the same, with a focus more on the RTS aspect.

The final stage is the space stage, where the player controls a spaceship and has adventures in space. The game is a massive open galaxy from that point on.


Blogger, By Guest. "The Play Forum » 2009 » May." Toy Reviews | Hot Wheels Games & Sets | Lego Games & Reviews | Time to Play. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://timetoplaymag.com/playforum/2009/05/>.

Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath

Kane's Wrath is a Real-Time Strategy game for PC created in 2008. he game was developed by several different companies explained below. It is a sequel/prequel to the game Tiberium Wars, to which it is an expansion pack.

In Kane's Wrath, there are 3 factions: The Global Defense Initiative (GDI), The Brotherhood of NOD, and the Scrin Aliens. Each faction has different parts to it, with GDI focusing on direct technological superiority with powerful support powers, a vast assortment of powerful air units, and overall the more powerful military. NOD utilizes sneaky underhanded tactics like stealth and hit and run attacks. While they have a lackluster air fleet, their infantry are very powerful. The Scrin are an alien species in search of Tiberium, a mysterious crystal that grows on Earth ofter an impact by a strange asteroid. They focus on tactical victories, with a penchant for resource superiority, mind control, and teleportation. They can use massive tripod units a la War of the Worlds with forcefields as well as many other powerful vehicle units.

Kane's Wrath was developed by EA Los Angeles, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (the publisher) as well as BreakAway games, an independent developer. Electronic Arts has since gutted and dissolved the Los Angeles branch, turning it into the EA Redwood branch and EALA branch. BreakAway now specializes in simulation games such as Pulse!! and Tropico.

 The game uses a tech tree based method of unlocking new units. The power plant unlocks the refinery, which unlocks the barracks, and so forth. If the player wants a sniper for example, they must build a barracks to build it with, a command post, and then an armory. This system saves the more powerful units for endgame matches.

Kane's Wrath is a game with an interesting history. Originally, the Command and Conquer series was created by Westwood studios. This company was bought out by EA, and the staff were put into EA Los Angeles. Kane's Wrath was the last project By EA Los Angeles.

Image above is a scanned poster.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Digital Prototyping

 Kirby's Epic Yarn is a side-scrolling platformer game developed and published by Nintendo, and released in 2010 for the Wii. Starring Nintendo's classic titular character Kirby, a spherical pink omnidigesting being. In the game, Kirby is made entirely of yarn, as is the world around him. By manipulating his own body shape, Kirby can assume new forms like a car, a parachute, or a submarine. Kirby can also pull in strings in the environment to change the level itself.

Combat functions interestingly. The player cannot actually lose, but they do drop their beads, which act as the currency of the game. The player attacks by unraveling enemies, or simply grabbing them and using the yarn that composed them to throw. Some enemies must be stunned before being unraveled, such as boss monsters. Defeating enemies in creative ways can yield beads. Certain powerups provide Kirby with extra yarn, allowing him to change himself into a tank, a UFO, an excavator, and other vehicles.

A digital prototype of Epic Yarn could involve a simple sprite in a side-scrolling platformer that can change the game environment. No health bar would be included, and the primary goals would be finishing the level and collecting small dots.

Gotcha Force - Physical Prototype

Gotcha force is a cult classic Gamecube game released by Capcom in 2003. The game centers around a race of toy-sized robots trying to save their species. There are over 200 robots to choose from, and the player makes a team of them to fight an enemy team.

The game could have been prototyped using a turn based miniature RPG with different weapons, speeds, and abilities for each. Dice rolls could account for the player's accuracy and the field could be represented with paper or blocks.

The game has a class based unit system, with some units being knights, others gunman, and others ninjas. These classes have many variations, which leads to such a diverse selection of units for the player to choose. The player chooses 5 of the bots, or borgs as the game calls them, and battles against either the enemy team in splitscreen, or against an evil army in campaign. Some units are more expensive than others in terms of G-Energy. This energy is the currency of the game, and the more powerful units cost more G-Energy. The player is given only a set amount of GE to use each round. Resource management is key.

Gotcha Force was panned by critics, and received little to no advertising. While the game was unappreciated, it has become one of the most well known examples of an underrated game.

"Gotcha Force (Gamecube Games) Reviews." Reviews and Tests from the Best Sources Testfreaks Collects It All. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. <http://www.testfreaks.com/gamecube-games/gotcha-force/>.

Minecraft - Brainstorming

Minecraft is an exploration game for the PC made by Marcus Persson as a one-man indie game. It became widely popular due to the simplistic approach and open world. The game focuses mainly on the exploration of the player's world and the creation of different objects.

The player starts with no items at all, with absolutely no instruction. They are left to their own devices and to discover the game for themselves. The player is meant to build a base where they can rest and recuperate for the night, as during the night, enemies are spawned. When a player reaches the point in the game where they are protected from attack by enemies, they have the ability to go into a mine. When a player mines, they might stumble upon a vein of coal, iron, gold, redstone (which can make simple I/O circuits), or diamond.

The game has been confirmed to be inspired by a game called Infiniminer, which involved an infinitely deep mineshaft filled with lava, minerals, and metals. Similarly, Minecraft has an infinitely expanding world filled with many different materials and NPCs.

Minecraft also has a crafting interface where players place items they have collected through farming and mining. The objects that are crafted then become used by the player for things like excavation and decoration.

The ultimate goal of the game is left to the player, whether it be a massive monument, or complete excavation of a specific area, or even just cutting down one tree.

Gratuitous Space Battles - System Dynamics

Gratuitous Space Battles (or GSB for short) is a mix of tower defense and real time strategy developed by Positech Games for the PC in 2010. the game puts players in the position of an admiral commanding a fleet of spacecraft, trying to attack other spacecraft. GSB gives the character almost full control over their fleet, allowing them to not only customize their ships down to the last laser cannon, but it is also heavily moddable, which allows the player to create their own spacefaring, warmongering race of barbarians.

 The game is a fusion of normal tower defense gaming with real time strategic elements. Players create their fleet, place the ships on their side of the battlefield while staying inside the cost parameters, and begin the game. The player can give commands and behaviors to the ships before they begin the fight, but there is no interaction whatsoever after the game begins. The player can only watch their fleet battle with the enemy, and can see the fight happening similar to a real time strategy.

GSB has a market in-game that allows players to buy new factions, hulls, weapons and maps. You obtain currency by completing matches while staying below the set cost line. The less money you spend, the more money you get. This simple economy allows players to constantly improve their options and strategies.

Gratuitous Space Battles is a simple concept with a simple execution. It skips most of the immersive elements and focuses on gameplay entirely.

Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead is an action shooter game released by Valve in 2008. The game is from the point of view of 4 survivors of the zombie apocalypse.
The characters are Bill, a Vietnam Veteran, Zoey, a college student, Francis, a biker, and Louis, an IT office worker. The 4 survivors make there way to different places in the game's world to try to find rescue. The game fleshes the characters out using in-game dialogue, and banter between the characters. This makes the player more comfortable with their role and the interaction they have with the other characters in the game.

The games dramatic arc takes place on a level-based scale and a campaign scale. In each level, there is often some sort of event where the players must hold their ground against a swarm of zombies. This acts as the climax of the level, as it often happens near the end of it. On a larger scale, the game has a much larger event that involves the players holding their ground longer, waiting for rescue from the campaign. This acts as the climax of the campaign, and caps it off nicely.

Left 4 Dead also has a very innovative inventory system. The player is allowed only one primary gun, two pistols, one first-aid kit, and and a bottle of painkillers at a time. This system forces the player to prioritize. If they have run out of painkillers and have no ammo for their primary weapon, the player must switch to the pistols, and try to look for either a weapon or painkillers to make up for the damage lost by a weapon.

Finally, Left 4 Dead has a very innovative AI system called the "director" which places enemies and events throughout the game. It determines when them player has had enough and deserves a break, and when the next hallway should be filled with zombies. This system keeps the players on their toes, making sure that they have a new experience every time they play, and giving the game huge replay value.

"Left 4 Dead Online Image." Steam Community. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://steamcommunity.com/groups/left4dead>.

Civilization V - Formal Elements

Civilization V is a very new real time strategy game. It was released September 21, 2010 by Firaxis Games for the PC. It is the fifth game in the main line of the Civilization series. It has been adapted for a quicker pace.

Civilization V has a great deal of player involvement. The player is given the ability to control their entire nation, with everything from cultural values like honor and piety, to absolute control over scientific bias, to diplomatic stance and everything in between. The large amount of player involvement allows for much more immersive and in depth games.

The objective, as with any game, is to win. There are several paths to victory. One player might choose military conquest, one might choose diplomacy,
and another might seek to create a space ship and flee to the stars. These different means of victory allow just about any type of player to play their own way. This, in turn, leads to even more player involvement, and thus more in depth games.

Resources are a critical point in Civilization V, as with any real-time strategy game. The player uses gold as currency, which is used to buy everything. The other resources include strategic resources, such as iron and horses, and luxury resources like pearls, gems, wheat, and furs. There are special land tiles as well, like forests, hills, oceans, deserts, and marshes. These tiles influence movement, and some are better for certain construction projects. A hill may have mineral wealth, while a plain could have fertile ground.

The player is constantly competing with the other civilizations in the game. While the English may be competing for the Utopia victory, the French could be competing for a military victory. England must then take up arms against France and lose momentum in the Utopia victory. This constant competition is what makes up the conflict in the game.

Source:
Play, By. "Simpson's Paradox » Civ V at E3." Simpson's Paradox. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. <http://simpsonsparadox.com/2010/06/civ-v-at-e3.html>.

Team Fortress 2-Player Engagement

Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Valve


 Team Fortress 2 is a very popular multiplayer shooter game. The premise of Team Fortress 2 is rather simple. Players compete over a variety of goals such as capture the flag or control point using a variety of characters that suit the players individual play style It has a class-based system, where players pick to play as one of 9 different classes depending on their play. style. While one player might pick a faster class like the scout because they work well as a fast mover, another player could play as the heavy weapons guy because they prefer firepower over speed. There is a class for almost every play style, which helps the player enjoy their part in the game.
The challenge in the game is entirely based upon the opposition, and the rock-paper-scissors mechanic provided by the different classes. A sniper plays based on accuracy and targets that stand still. This would make getting a shot on the scout, a small, hard to hit, and fast class. Another example is that of range. The pyro, a short range class, would have a great deal of trouble trying to win in a battle against a soldier, whose weapon has longer range. This sort of gameplay helps create a certain rivalry between players with different classes.
The game contains no story outside of the expanded universe. This adds to the simple charm of the game. There is no plot given, save for the fact that you are good, the other people are bad, and you must kill them. This simple approach to the games plot, combined with the accommodating approach to gameplay and an unspoken rivalry between certain play styles helps the player to immerse themselves in combat and the games goal.
Team Fortress 2 is engaging because of its simplicity. It has only 2 teams, 9 classes, and no story. This kind of basic premise helps the player understand the game and forgoes the tutorial or learning curve. The engagement comes from how easy it is to play, and how rewarding the play is.

Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde

Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde
Video Game
Real-Time Strategy
Jaleco Entertainment

Goblin Commander is a story of five clans of goblins dealing with a major civil war after the death of their leader. With all of these clans fighting each other, no one truly sees the evil standing among them.

The game has quite a short history. Released in 2003, it went by rather unnoticed. The game contains a rather simple premise, seen within all RTS games: build units to eliminate the enemy. This common mechanic is not added upon, as many would suggest, but rather subtracted from, to make the game simpler and all around easier to use. Resources are reduced to two needs, gold and souls. The gameplay is shifted from a focus on resource management to a focus on direct combat and player interaction. This new type of gameplay adds more to the cinematic experience in the game, and makes it less focused on micromanagement.

In terms of innovation, Goblin Commander is rife with it. First off, it is one of the first RTS games for a console that wasn't a direct port, and its resource system made it rather easy to grasp. The game appealed to playtesters with this simplistic approach and simpler controls. It is really a toned down version of a realtime strategy, which could more easily convince gamers used to non-RTS games to become fans. The fact that it was released to a completely untapped market would have made it a big success if it hadn't been overlooked by said market.

Goblin Commander is a game that changes the perspective of the player, rather than using a tried-and-true formula. By releasing on consoles, using a simplified play system and basic controls, it turns itself into a game that is both easy to grasp, and an intermediate between action games and Real-Time Strategy.






Source: "Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde Online Image." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_Commander:_Unleash_the_Horde>.